1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to oral care products and more particularly to a combination toothbrush and toothpaste dispenser.
Oral care in general and tooth brushing in particular should be performed regularly and regardless of location. Teeth should be brushed at least three times a day, and there are many instances where a person might want to brush their teeth even more often such as before business meetings, social events, and of course before visiting the dentist. While most people are well prepared to brush their teeth at home, brushing teeth away from home can be difficult, particularly when traveling and away from both home and the office.
One solution that has been proposed to ease the difficulties of truth brushing away from home is the use of a toothbrush having a combined or integrated toothpaste dispenser. Such “all-in-one” toothbrushes eliminate the need to carry both a toothbrush and separate toothpaste container and can sometimes be made small enough to carry in a pocket, purse, or other convenient location. Often, the combined toothbrush/toothpaste dispensers are intended for single use or a limited number of uses, thus reducing the challenge of keeping the toothbrush sanitary for multiple uses.
While an excellent idea with potentially great value, the designs more for toothbrushes with integrated toothpaste dispensers have thus far been lacking in one or respects. For example, most combined toothbrush/toothpaste dispensers rely on storing the toothpaste in the handle of an otherwise generally normal looking toothbrush. The toothpaste is then squeezed or otherwise forced from the handle into the brush head of the toothbrush, typically entering from the bottom of the brush head. Such designs are far from optimum since it can be difficult to squeeze the handle in order to advance the toothpaste and most people do not like and/or are not used to the toothpaste being dispensed on the bottom of the brush head rather than the top.
While one design shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,882 does attempt to place the toothpaste on top of the brush head (FIGS. 7 and 7A), this design suffers from other shortcomings. The toothpaste is dispensed through a nozzle into a single location in the middle of the brush head and does not spread across the top or crown of the brush head as most people desire. Second, the paste is dispensed while the brush head is hidden within a cavity in the toothbrush handle, making it difficult to confirm that the toothpaste has been dispensed. Dispensing within the handle can also cause scrapping or otherwise dislodge the toothpaste from the brush head as the brush head is advanced from the handle. Finally, the toothbrush/toothpaste dispenser of the '822 patent requires separate dispensing and brush head advancement actions by the user. Such separation of the brush head advancement and dispensing actions makes the toothbrush less convenient to use.
For these reasons, improved toothbrush systems combining both a brush head advancement mechanism and a toothbrush dispenser would be desirable. In particular, it would be desirable if the motion of the brush head advancement mechanism were coupled to the toothbrush dispenser so that these motions can be properly coordinated. It would still be further desirable if toothpaste were dispensed from the dispenser as the brush mechanism is advanced so that a line of toothpaste along the crown of the brush head can be placed in a manner which is familiar to most users. Finally, it would be desirable if the designs were particularly compact and if, optionally, it were possible to refill the dispenser portion of the brush with additional toothpaste. At least some of these objectives will be met by the inventions described below.
2. Description of the Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,822, was described above. Other relevant patents and publications showing toothbrushes with integrated dispensing mechanisms include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,221,492; 5,842,605; 6,056,466; 6,257,791; 6,533,485; 6,793,433; 7,070,353; 7,128,492; 7,293,928; 7,617,828; US2004/0028456; US2005/0002726; US2006/0269354; US2007/0028941; US2007/0183838; US2012/0102638; Des. 322,172; WO83/03742; WO97/05043; and EP0385815.